Advance Review: A SWOLLEN RED SUN by Matthew McBride

As unpredictable and violent as the meth trade and those who swarm towards its deathly drug addled embrace, A SWOLLEN RED SUN is the raw, uncut, pure embodiment of noir versed in a kind of hick/back water literature akin to Daniel Woodrell.

When Deputy Sheriff Banks discovers a hidden stash of cash in a cooks’ trailer buried beneath kitty litter and excrement, he can’t turn a blind eye. Thinking it a victimless crime of sorts (Jerry Dean, the trailers occupant cant report the cash stolen by virtue of how he accumulated it), Banks proceeds to go out his daily policing without much thought of potential repercussions. Until the body count starts to pile – on both sides of the law.

Wading through a pool of blood, Banks sticky red footprints leave pools of violence and torment across Gasconade Country. From local farming establishments to the terrors of Goat Hill, no one is immune to the call of the reaper.  

Author Matthew McBride (who also wrote FRANK SINATRA IN A BENDER, a PI novel) has once again delivered an utterly enthralling read that surpasses his previous novel and puts him into the upper echelon of noir writers.

A SWOLLEN RED SUN has everything – mystery, intrigue, murder, backstabbing, believable characters, well defined place-setting, and a damn good storyline. Without a doubt one of the best books of 2014.